Cameron Recommends: The Cardturner

Many of you may know Louis Sachar for his incredible youth book Holes, which is a great read. He took a relatively simple idea and made an excellent story out of it.  In Holes you get to really know many of the characters without a whole lot of text.  Well, take that ability and multiply it and apply it to the game of bridge.  Yep that is right. Bridge.  The stereotypical game we assign to old people.  The Cardturner is the story of a boy learning the game of bridge with his rich great uncle.  That is the main of it.  I know, it sounds boring, but please TRUST me.  My friend Susan was skeptical but decided to give it a try.  Here is what she said " The narrator is a relate-able teenager, but isn't snarky or melodramatic. The plot moves smoothly back and forth between sections on how to play bridge and the actual story line. By the end, you know a surprising amount about bridge and you feel thoroughly entertained."
This book is amazing. Read it. You can easily get through it (since it is at a middle school reading level). You won't regret it.

Cameron Recommends: Rush

The classic rock band from Canada, Rush. Rush is the power house trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neal Peart.  Geddy Lee sing lead vocals has a very unique quality to his voice.  He also plays the base and keyboards.  Listen to the song YYZ and you can hear some of his base solos which are fantastic, I mean awesome.  Alex Lifeson plays lead guitar and does backup vocals.  He has to be one of the best in the business.  And Neal Peart, simply put he is the best drummer who has ever lived. Period.  Watch one of his solos, it sounds like 3 people are jamming, but nope, it's just him.

I was first introduced to Rush by Tyson Lyons back in middle school.  He had their greatest hits album (at least their hits up to that time) and we listened to it in his basement while playing Metal Gear Solid.  Needless to say I asked for it from my parents shortly thereafter and received the same album, Chronicles (which apparently is out of print now).  I got my little brother Chandler into Rush as well and he got their album Moving Pictures (in my opinion their best).  He started to love them as well.  Just last month, on July 31st, Chandler and I got the chance to see them live on their Clockwork Angels tour.  And man, are they AMAZING live.  I daresay that this is now the best concert I have ever attended.  I mean wow.  These guys are 60 years old and they performed so well.  I was super impressed, and I had a lot of fun.  Thanks Chandler.